Puberty: The Wonder Years

Year Published: 2015

Publisher: Puberty: The Wonder Years

Website: https://pubertycurriculum.com/

Full or Supplemental: Full (Note: While this curriculum was reviewed as a “full” curriculum, it is intended to teach about puberty; it is not intended as a comprehensive sexual health education curriculum)

Grade Level: 4-6

Student Population: General

Duration/Number of Lessons: 6-7 lessons per grade, duration undefined

Format and Features: 1 curriculum book for each grade (4,5,6) with teacher’s guide, online teacher resources, student worksheets, and family resources; videos and supplemental materials available; professional development available

Evidence-based/informed: Yes (evidence-informed)

National Standards Alignment: Yes (National Health Education Standards)

Consistent with Healthy Youth Act? Yes

Consistent with AIDS Omnibus Act? N/A

Bias Free Materials: No

Primary Topical Areas (Check all that apply)

☐Abortion ☐HIV Prevention ☐Abstinence ☐Identity/Orientation ☐Access to Services ☐Online Safety ☐Anatomy and Physiology ☐Pregnancy & Reproduction ☐Communication/Decision-making ☒Puberty/Adolescent Development ☐Condom Use ☐Refusal Skills ☐Consent ☐STD Prevention ☐Contraception ☐Other ☐Healthy relationships

Reviewer Comments: Reviewer 103: Grades 4-6

This curriculum emphasizes the importance of speaking with family and has a take home activity for every lesson. There are also great suggestions for how to accommodate different styles of learning and guidelines for discussion. Most lessons outline how this material might be relevant for other subjects such as Social Studies and Language Arts. A great technique identified for discussions is the importance of using "I statements." The introduction and lesson goals are clearly outlined. Two of the guidelines for discussion identify what to "avoid," whereas it would be more helpful to identify a positive example of behaviors to do. There appears to be an underlying emphasis on abstinence and some of the scripting may be interpreted as shaming. This curriculum lacks social and emotional components, particularly aspects that demonstrate the importance of consent. There are limited examples of diverse experiences and concepts are presented as predominantly binary. This material seems to be a bit outdated and oversimplified. It should be noted that this reviewer did not have full access to the teacher supplemental materials.

Reviewer 105: Grades 4-6

This curriculum could be a good tool for teaching just the puberty part of sexual health. It needs supplementation in the area of STIs and HIV transmission and prevention, and sexual assault and abuse, and healthy and unhealthy relationships. Although it does address gender roles and stereotypes, it does not address gender identity or sexual orientation. I do like how this curriculum gives students so many opportunities to discuss issues with their parents, guardians, and caregivers. I would use this curriculum to teach puberty, but I would not use it as my complete sexual health curriculum. Reviewer 109: Grades 4-6

Sadly, this curriculum cannot be fully reviewed. The website offers much of the materials needed for teachers, including videos, and those were not accessible to the reviewers. The written products are very well organized and provide for a variety of activities. There are activities to involve families. The materials are easy to follow, and teachers should find them helpful. Unfortunately, I had to answer "neutral" for many of my ratings, simply based on the fact I couldn't see some of the materials. If the parts I could see were all that was rated, it would rate higher than what I have given it. I would be very interested in seeing the videos and other online resources to better judge this curriculum.

Accuracy Analysis Reviewer 101

This curriculum is age-appropriate for Grades 4-6 and is easily worded and put together for the teacher to teach and the children to learn. There are TONS of supplemental materials to help teach this with re- printables, worksheets, videos and PowerPoints. There are activities for the kids to take home to discuss with their parents, and abstinence is the main tenant through the entire curricula, as it should be for the curricula to be age appropriate. I didn't notice any medical or scientific in-accuracies, and this would be great to use for children who identify as trans or non-binary. There is even verbiage used in the curriculum to make this inclusive of every gender and sexual orientation. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Puberty: The Wonder Years. It would be a great addition to any district's sexual education program.